"I
have been encouraged by my pastor at my CHRISTIAN church to read the
Harry Potter books, because even though they have references to magic
and sorcery, they can teach us more about the values of Friendship and
Bravery than he can.... I am no longer Christian. Somewhere along
the way my beliefs changed. I practice Wicca." A young visitor
to our website

"Days before the release of the seventh and final novel in the series,
youth leaders are being told they could use the popularity of the Potter
books and films as a 'launch pad' for exploring Christian themes."[1]
Use Harry Potter to spread Christian message

"In
its early years, 'Harry Potter' was a litmus test of orthodoxy for some
conservative Christians, who expressed concern over its portrayal of
witchcraft....The hysteria has largely died down, and not many religious
leaders asked their flocks to avoid the final movie....Many Christians
have cheered the portrayals of loyalty, courage and love."[2]

"[They] practiced witchcraft
and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of
the Lord...." 2 Kings 17:17

I had plenty of company last Saturday morning as
I hurried into the movie theater to see the final film in the Harry Potter
series. Several families with
children walked in ahead of me. Others followed. One little girl couldn't be more than three years
old! How would she react to this scary movie?

For more than two hours, the audience sat immersed in a mystical world filled
with frightening shrieks, explosive sounds of death and destruction,
and enticing suggestions certain to appeal to power-hungry youth already
attuned to the forces of evil.

If you are a parent, please don't take your children
to see this movie!

By its end, it had exposed
the two sides
of today's popular evil. Like the yin-yang symbol, there is an obvious
dark side and a more subtle "light" side to occult
deceptions. To resist their
mind-changing allure, we need to understand both.

The Dark Side of Evil

This last part of the Harry Potter sequence promotes
everything God bans in this warning:

"There shall not be found
among you anyone who... practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer,
or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures
spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead....
For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord..." Deuteronomy
18:10-12

During
the last three centuries, Americans have enjoyed relative freedom from the
occult forces that have tormented many other parts of the world. From the
beginning, the pilgrims and a significant number of other believers trusted
God and built this nation on the foundation of His Word. Therefore God protected
their land. Few were exposed to words and actions that led to the occult.

But
times have changed and God's actual truth is rarely heard in public places.
We can no longer shut out the well-marketed forces of evil that press into
our lives -- even in churches. That's all the more reason to prepare for the
spiritual
warfare ahead. Let's begin by taking a closer look at the occult practices
listed in the above verses from Deuteronomy. Each practice is featured in
this movie.

1. WITCHCRAFT:
Trusting the occult spirit world for power to perform all kinds of magical spells
and wonders.

Witchcraft was common in Old Testament days. Back then it was already a "normal"
part of life in cultures around the world. Finally, in the wake of the Protestant
Reformation, such practices faded in the West. More recently, that trend has
been reversed. The mind-changing fantasies spread by Rowling and her admirers
have sparked a rapid revival of interest and delight in occult empowerment.

2. SOOTHSAYER:
A fortuneteller, diviner or seer in communication with demonic spirits.

If
witchcraft and sorcery sound like fantasy and fairy tales to teens and children
today, the devil must be very pleased. He is constantly on the lookout for
those who will follow his ways -- even if "just" in their imaginations.
As God warned long ago,

"They...walked
in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart...." Jeremiah
7:24

5.
CONJURE SPELLS: Manipulating occult
forces according to mental formulas and projecting the spell through a physical
object.

"To
cast a spell is to project energy through a symbol," explained Starhawk,
the wiccan author of The Spiral Dance. "Spells...
require the combined faculties of relaxation, visualization, concentration,
and [mental] projection."[3]

Most
spells in the movie were cast through magically empowered wands. The powerful
Elder Wand apparently had a mind of its own and could choose whether or not
to serve a new master. Wikipedia
explains its bizarre history:

"In the preceding movie, Voldemort...opens
Dumbledore's tomb and claims the wand as his own. Assuming incorrectly
that Snape is the wand's current master, Voldemort slays Snape, not
realizing that the wand's allegiance was to Draco....Harry had subsequently
disarmed Draco and taken his wand. ...the Elder Wand's allegiance had
since shifted to Harry....Voldemort uses the Elder Wand to cast his
final Killing Curseagainst Harry's Expelliarmus charm.
But since the wand's allegiance is to Harry, Voldemort's spell backfires
and kills him once and for all."[4]

Spells
were also essential to the creation and destruction of thehorcruxes used by Voldemort to secure his own immortality.
"Invented" by J.K Rowling, they only exist in the imaginations of those
who are captivated by her tales and by the additional "information" they
inspire. For example, Wikipedia
adds this gruesome description:

"...the
creation of a Horcrux requires one to commit a murder, which, as the
supreme act of evil, 'rips the soul apart.' After the murder, a spell
is cast to infuse part of the ripped soul into an object, which
becomes the Horcrux....Both inanimate objects and living organisms have
been used as Horcruxes, though the latter are considered riskier to
use, since an organism can move and think for itself....

"To be destroyed, a Horcrux must suffer damage so severe that repair
through magical means would be impossible....Once a Horcrux is irreparably
damaged, the fragment of soul within it is destroyed."[5]

These
dark fantasies share a common consequence with actual occult realities.
Both stir cravings for new and ever darker occult thrills and knowledge.
The natural consequences of pursuing such a path is spiritual
bondage and torment. Listen again to God's warning:

"They
would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.

Therefore
they shall eat the fruit of their own way,

And
be filled to the full with their own fancies." (Proverbs 1:30-31)

6. CALL UP
THE DEAD[Necromancy]:
Invoking the spirit of a deceased person through occult formulas.

Here the story gets more complicated. Harry himself was one of Voldemort's
horcruxes, since a piece of Voldemort's soul was hidden inside him.
Therefore Harry had to die before Voldemort could be killed. That realization
made Harry's life bleak indeed. The months of hiding from Voldemort and
his armies had taken their toll. Choosing to face his inevitable death
rather than fight it, he walked unarmed into Voldemort's forest camp.

But first Harry wanted to see his dead parents
and friends. His magical Resurrection Stone enabled him to call up
the spirits of his father and mother as well as Remus Lupin and Sirius
Black. They promised to stay with him until he died.

During his brief time in the state of "death,"
Harry was visited by the spirit of Albus Dumbledore who suggested
that he return to life. Since "dying" had freed him from bondage to Voldemort's
horcrux, he chose to return.

Many have equated Harry's death with the crucifixion and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. They are way off the track! Any such comparison is a
mockery of God's actual Truth.

The "Light"
Side of Evil

Surrounded by Hogwarts ash-covered ruins,
Harry wins his final battle against Voldemort. Later, as he stands on
a high ridge with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, he pulls out his
Elder Wand, the most powerful wand known to wizards. He breaks it in two
and throws the pieces into the canyon below. Apparently, there's no need
for it anymore.

Did he really believe that all warfare ended
when Voldemort died? Would peace now prevail in the region cleansed of
its cruel leader? What about Voldemort's surviving army of ambitious,
murderous "death eaters"? Might not some of them fight for his lofty,
tyrannical position?

Harry doesn't answers those questions.

The movie concludes with a brief glimpse
of the three friends nineteen years later. Ron, of course, married Hermione.
Harry married Ron's sister Ginny. Now the two couples are standing with
their children on the magical railroad Platform 9¾, ready to send their
older children off to school on the Hogwarts Express.

When Harry's middle son admits his fear of
being "sorted" into the Slytherin dorm rather than Gryffindor, his father
comforts him:

"AlbusSeverus, you were
named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin
[Severus Snape] and he was probably the bravest man I ever
knew."

He was? The
sour, sullen, ruthless Severus Snape was no friend to Harry during his
school years. Nor was any other member of the Slytherin clan. Most of
them were deadly enemies. Many joined the Death Eaters. In light of the
previous Potter books, this sudden emphasis on peace, harmony and reconciliation
makes no sense!

George
Orwell would probably agree. His familiar book, 1984, sums
up such strange contradictions with these words: "War is PEACE. Freedom is SLAVERY. Ignorance
is STRENGTH."[6]

We might add this lie:
Evil is Good! In a world that despises God's Word and moral
guidelines, it's not surprising that a series of books based on witchcraft
and wizardry has won the hearts of the people. Occult themes, whether
in books, movies or computer games, have become one of today's most effective
tools for social transformation. Even churches are promoting the change.
The "light" side of evil could hardly be more deceptive!

As God's Word tells us, "the
whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." (1 John 5:19)
That's reality today! But the
consequences for those who believe his lies will be severe:

"Woe to those who
call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and
light for darkness." Isaiah 5:20-21

God's Ultimate Victory

Today's rising world system has called for
unbiblical peace and a prescribed form of solidarity that has little tolerance
for Christians who refuse to compromise. Yet, if we stand
firm in Jesus Christ, our sovereign Lord, He will surely meet all
our needs -- and much more! Those who resist
the world's tempting lies in His name will be safe in Him -- now and forever!

This world system denies the message of the
cross. That's why the name
of Jesus is banned from all kinds of public places. But we cannot
be silent! What Jesus prayed to His Father almost 2000 years ago is now
His message for us:

“I
have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray
that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep
them from the evil one.... As You sent Me into the world, I also
have sent them into the world." John 17:14-19

If
you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been
very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately
ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you,
and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to
begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.

If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His
reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift
of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once
you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured
of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the
Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually.

If
you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation
Page now.